In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the common people lived in great misery as the society was ruthless and the officialdom corrupt. Zhang Jiao from Julu (today's Pingxiang of Hebei Province) created a sect named "Taiping Dao", and by curing diseases with his witchery therapy, he secretly contacted people from various areas. At that time people joining the sect came from as many as eight states, covering places such as today's Hebei, Shandong, Anhui, Hubei etc.

In 184 during the reign of Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the followers of the Taiping Dao from all corners revolted simultaneously. They wore a yellow turban, and called themselves "Yellow Turban Army". Taking "the dark green heaven (referring to the Eastern Han Dynasty, as its army uniform was dark green in color) has died and the yellow heaven (referring to the uprising army as they wore a yellow turban) should emerge; right in the year of Jiazi (184 A. D.), the whole country will be blessed" as their slogan, they gathered several hundred thousand people in Jizhou, Nanyang etc and inflicted heavy losses on the imperial army which came up to squash them.

Later, Zhang Jiao, the leader of the Yellow Turpan Army, died from illness, and his younger brothers Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao were killed. The main force of the army was subjugated after nine months' fighting, while the rest kept fighting in local areas for over 20 years.

To squash the revolt, the Han Kingdom had to rely on the local forces. Hence the local warlords took their chance and strengthened their own forces, which caused the country to fall apart. The regime of the Eastern Han existed only in name!